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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
"I am Adelina Amouteru... I belong to no one. On this night, I swear to you that I will rise above everything you've ever taught me. I will become a force that this world has never known. I will come into such power that none will dare hurt me again."
No, but seriously, the parallels are there. Just sayin'.
Not to say that The Young Elites wasn't incredible and original and unique and wonderful and fan-fucking-tastic. Because it was. Oh, damn, it really was. That being said, I think I was slightly over-hyped. If I had gone into this book knowing what little I did about the story but without the glowing reviews from the book community, I probably would have been pleasantly surprised and rated this baby five stars. Going into it with all the hype in the back of my mind left me slightly disappointed because books, through no fault of their own, generally fail to live up to the heaps of hype when they're piled on top of each other. That's okay. Because this book was still incredible. I recommend you go read it.
Granted, it gets a little dark there at points. Adelina, our "heroine" (air-quotes definitely needed here), is rapidly descending a slippery slope towards evildom. Does this make me excited? Hell yes. There is nothing better than a morally ambiguous anti-hero who you can still sympathize with. This is where I think Adelina and Celaena/Aelin from Throne of Glass differ. Both have dealt with a lot of crap and been forced into doing some even crappier things (i.e. murder), but we're catching them at different points in their journey--Celaena/Aelin is done with being weak and has built herself up to be strong while Adelina is still dealing with the preeminent stage of weakness--and with different motives. While Celaena/Aelin continues to come off as the hero fighting against the big bad--where the ends justify the means--with Adelina the lines are a little blurrier. Do the ends really justify the means when she takes such pleasure in pain and fear?
It's a very interesting idea to look at, and I think Marie Lu does an excellent job. I've only read the first book in the Legend trilogy and am very impressed by what I've seen here. While both first books sucked me in, The Young Elites did so more, though I may now have to return to finish Legend. We'll see how that goes.
We have some other really interesting relationships in this book and pretty much everything centers around the line between good and evil. Adelina is constantly forced to question whether her friends are really her friends--who intends to use her and who actually cares for her--and my sympathy for her skyrocketed every time she was betrayed. She just wants to be accepted and no one seems to be able to do it. That is definitely an emotion I think everyone can relate to at some point or another. Her relationship with her sister was complex and tangled and interesting and I'm very excited to dive into more of that next book. There's an array of other interesting characters, as well, although I wish we could have expanded a little on the backstories of the other Daggers. We get a lot about Raffaele and Enzo (both of whom I loved) but not as much on the others. Maybe there'll be more of that in the next book. I hope so.
I can imagine Marie Lu sitting merrily at her desk watching as readers of this series tear through the story and then die a thousand painful deaths at that ending.
I just...
Spoiler
You sunk my ship before it even got a chance to sail... *cries forever*I'm really excited to dive into the next one in this series and very glad that I hopped on this wagon (albeit a little late, but better late than never, right?). Where to next, little wolf?
Spoiler
Who is this Maeve? And how is it possible that I already think I love her? (Yes, I am a sucker for badass female characters who don't give a shit about your weakness.) Please God, let her bring Enzo back. The poor baby... I just can't believe he would die in the first book and not come back. THIS IS NOT OVER.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really liked the beginning of the book and the storyline was really unique and interesting. The plot twists were unexpected too and the writing style was nice but I can’t give it more than 4 stars is because the ending was horrible. It didn’t make sense and just annoyed me.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this book when I was younger. As an adult reading it now it is not nearly as good.
I liked this book. It was very interesting, and I flipping cried at the end. This author has a way with killing the life out of books. But it was really good.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
I really struggled with this book. At first I was all like oh my gerd best book ever. Then towards the middle I started to get bored and a little pissy towards the main character. Then in the end things really picked up and I was gripped until the end. Moral of the review: don't read fantasy when you're feeling sick because you will get mad at everything.
This a world that I want to keep reading about, and I am lucky enough to have book two sitting here waiting for me! The story grabbed me as soon as I started reading and Adelina was an interesting character. She grew so much throughout the story as she learned more and more about herself and I really hope she can learn control in the second book. The way her relationship with Enzo developed was fantastic and I was holding my breath for a lot of the time they were together. All of the secondary characters were well written and interesting in their own way, they could each easily have their own books.
The last 1/4 of the book was definitely the part that had me flipping through the pages quicker and quicker and I was hit with one or two surprises (OMG - really, did that really just happen). And the ending was fantastic, a great way to finish off. If I didn't have book two waiting for me, then I probably would be devastated that I was going to have to wait!
The last 1/4 of the book was definitely the part that had me flipping through the pages quicker and quicker and I was hit with one or two surprises (OMG - really, did that really just happen). And the ending was fantastic, a great way to finish off. If I didn't have book two waiting for me, then I probably would be devastated that I was going to have to wait!
not a fan of the characterisation and the semi-insta love in this, but it has been an enjoyable read and i'm really liking this anti-hero protagonist